There are endless options for battery backup devices for your smartphone. There are battery cases, battery packs, solar chargers, and hand-crank devices. But they all have a common enemy: bulk. You have to find the space in your pocket or purse to keep them with you. This is where the Fuel phone charger comes in. It's as easy to carry as your car keys.

Fuel is shaped like a little red gas canister. Inside the aluminum housing is a 220 milliAmp hour battery. It's just over an inch high and half an inch thick, leading its creator Devotec Industries to claim it as the world's smallest cell phone charger. Fuel isn't going to fully recharge your battery, but it will give you an extra 20 to 30 minutes of talk time when you need it most.

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The miniscule charger has a micro-USB port for charging it up, and one to connect to your phone, kept hidden under the canister's "gas cap." It will work for many phones, but you would need an adapter for your iPhone. Fuel can hold its charge for as long as 3 months, but it's recommended that you recharge it monthly so it's at the ready for when you run down your phone's battery.

Fuel has already topped its $20,000 Kickstarter funding goal. It will cost you a pledge price of $20 to get your own Fuel and become a member of the Itty-Bitty Phone-Charging Committee.

About the author

Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET's Crave blog. When not wallowing in weird gadgets and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
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